Friday Night Action Pack

IOWA CITY, IOWA (BASN)–Ji-Hoon Kim fights like a pit bull as he simply attacks, attacks, attacks and if his opponent misses him, he feels insulted.His opponent, Yakubu Amidu began the fight with a jab to body and head with the goals of countering Kim as he moved in.Kim attacked the body with hooks and scored effectively but Amidu countered efficiently over the last minute as he nailed Kim with solid rights in a round that featured punches after punches being thrown in non-stop action.

Amidu nailed Kim with solid combinations at the beginning of the second round as he came forward, but at the minute and half mark, Kim switched gear and did the attacking.Amidu switched from defense over last thirty seconds, trapped Kim on the rope, but in the last five seconds, Kim turned Amidu around and unleashed a five punch combination concluding with a left hook as the bell rang.

At the two minute mark of the third round, Kim threw a long right that connected and sent Amidu reeling into the rope and with a minute left, Kim unleashed left hook as Amidu went straight back and Amidue was hurt. Kim repeated this in the fourth round with thirty seconds left in the fourth round, catching Amidu with a left hook that spin Amidu’s head about 180 degrees and Kim punished Amidu for the rest of the round.At the beginning of the fifth round, Amidu looked slower and fatigue set in as Kim barrage of punches were wearing Amidu down.Amidu proved to be game as he continued to exchange punches with Kim but his punches did not have the same power as Kim’s punches.

Amidu moved forward to meet Kim and landed several combinations and even appeared to have advantages throughout most of the sixth round but a Kim right and left at the end of the round at the round was the most impactful punches. Both fighters continued to stand toe to toe exchanging punches in the seventh round but a Kim right opened a cut near the end of the round.

The eighth and ninth round were similar to the previous two rounds as they fought close in but Kim started all the actions and Amidu did the countering witht Kim punches having more punches.Going into the final round, Kim was ahead on the card.Kim continued to assault Amidu, who bravely stood to Kim battering, but he was simply outgunned by the stronger Kim.Kim was the fight 96-94, 97-93, 98-92 in a fight that each round was competitive and action filled.

The main event featured David Torres fighting the aggressive and hard charging RuslanProvodnikov.Halfway the first round, Provodnikov left hook sent Torres down for the knockdown and after he got up, he retreated to the rope as Provodnikov trapped Torres in the corner, unleashing five punch combinations to the body and head.

During the second round, Provodnikov continued to attack but Ted Atlas observed that Provodnikov was holding back, allowing Torres to survive as if he wanted the fight to last.Another thought that came to the ESPN staff was whether Provodnikov truly recovered from a tough fight against former champion DeMarcus Corley just six weeks ago.By the fourth round, Provodnikov looked tired with his mouth wide open but Torres could not take advantage as Torres missed counter shots against the aggressive Provodnikov.

By the fifth round, Torres face swelled and blood flowed as he continued to absorb punishment from Provodnikov but Provodnikov left eye reddened, possibly from scar tissues not fully healed from cuts resulting from his last fight.In the sixth round, Torres began the round by being aggressive but with thirty seconds left, a Provodnikov right sent Torres down and from there it was a matter of time.Providnikov assaulted Torres with variety of punches and Torres attempted to fight back but a second Providniklov right sent Torres down for good. Provodnikov won the fight easily against an overmatched fighter but the question remained, can Provodnikov make the leap into championship contender?

Both Provodnikov and Ji-Hoon Kim are action fighters who have yet to make that jump into contender status and one reason is their styles, which is all offense and no defense.When you move up the ladder, using your head to block punches shortens career and as Ted Atlas noted about Kim, “He is 25 going on 35.”